Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom should invite federal and state leaders for a California Summit on Wildfires on Jan. 8, the day after his inauguration. The goal: Forge a comprehensive wildfire prevention plan that can be implemented in 2019. Taking immediate action will stamp the governor as a man of action and offers the best chance the state has to fix a deadly crisis.

Scott Stephens, the leader of UC Berkeley’s Fire Science Laboratory, had it right in September when he told one of our sister newspapers: “Unless we change course, we’ll never work our way out of this dilemma. Unless we can get ahead of it, it’ll never get better.”

Throwing money at the problem will help, but what’s really needed is a shift in strategy. Don’t get caught up in a tweet-fight with the president. Instead, invite his administration to play a role in solving the problem.

The Newsom California summit needs to bring together forest management experts, loggers, environmentalists, utility providers, climate scientists, firefighters, and city, county, state and federal legislators and officials. They should acknowledge the impact of climate change in creating conditions that have lengthened the state’s fire season by two months, leading to unprecedented, catastrophic wildfires.

The Camp and Malibu fires are only the latest examples of the extent of the problem. The Camp Fire is the most destructive in state history, claiming at least 42 lives, burning more than 110,000 acres and destroying more than 7,000 homes and businesses. The Malibu Fire has leveled hundreds of buildings in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and torched tens of thousands of acres. This, in a state that had already endured more than 4,000 fires this year, killing seven people, burning 2,000 homes and taking $320 million from the state’s emergency fund.

The decades-long fight between the logging industry and environmentalists needs to end. Both sides have shown signs of being ready to compromise in ways that no one could have forecast at the turn of the century. It’s clear evidence that they understand the status quo isn’t working for either the industry or the environment.
Newsom should urge the two groups to find ways to come together on agreements that could allow undergrowth removal and thinning of forests that would not only reduce the fire risk, but also be profitable and offer long-term benefits for the environment. More controlled burns may be part of the solution.

This isn’t strictly a state problem, as the president implied in his ill-timed tweet last week. More than 60 percent of California forests are under federal management. Any solution will also require the involvement of the federal government and a commitment to additional resources for forest management.

Cities and counties also have an important role to play. They need to work with firefighting specialists on urban sprawl. Where homes already exist in high fire-risk areas, “fuel breaks,” can halt the progress of fires. So can community efforts to clear brush and trees near homes. But cities and counties can also slow or even stop building homes in dangerous locations, no matter how attractive they may be to home-buyers.

Much work needs to be done on multiple fronts. Only a coordinated effort will slow the ever-growing wildfire threat in California. Newsom should call for a California Summit on Wildfires and put the best minds across the country to work to protect our towns, hillsides and forests.